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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23124121">detour</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson'>ndnickerson</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bonding, Case Fic, Established Relationship, F/M, Romance, Vignette</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:27:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,051</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23124121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ned accompanies Nancy on a possible wild goose chase.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>detour</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Well, that answers that question."</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Nancy stood beside the rental car, shading her eyes as her gaze wandered over the property. This was the last known residence for the witness she was seeking, but the house had clearly been abandoned for years. It didn't even have a driveway, or bear a number for an address; she had figured it out through process of elimination. Thousands of storms and eons of sunshine had stripped the paint from the now-gray boards. The one window that was mostly visible had been broken, and the front door was obscured by a shrub that had grown to twice Nancy's height and was beginning to envelop the house. The front steps sagged under some invisible weight. A long-dead tree had fallen and collapsed part of the roof.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Nancy glanced over at Ned. He wore a pair of cargo shorts and sandals, and she smiled as she shook her head slightly. "Wait here," she said, then began to circle the house, looking for an entrance that wasn't blocked. In spite of the heat, she wore jeans and sturdy boots.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"I can—"</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She glanced back. "You'll tear your legs up on these thorns," she called to him, and smiled. "It's all right."</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sunlight poured into the hollow interior of the ruined house, she could see through one of the windows. The fallen tree had destroyed enough of the roof to make a skylight. Nancy forced her way between two shrubs that had practically grown with their branches intertwined, and stopped an inch short of walking through a spiderweb. Testing each step on the alarmingly creaky porch, Nancy approached the large back window. Half the panes were just jagged teeth of broken glass.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The back door was ajar slightly, and Nancy's heart gave a hard, happy beat as she approached it. When she tugged, though, she discovered that the door and frame had swollen and warped. She could hear Ned approaching, cursing a few times as he had to force his way through the thick, hungry underbrush.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her teeth gritted, Nancy tightened her grip on the doorknob and gave the door one last savage tug. It swung open, the boards oddly pliant, so quickly that she stumbled backward and directly into the warm, solid wall of her boyfriend.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ned put an arm around her, his other braced against a vine-carpeted wall to take the impact. "Wow."</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Nancy shot him a brief smile of thanks as he released her and she took a breath. The startling beam of pale sunlight cast the rest of the interior into deep shadow, and she took a slender flashlight out of her pocket.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Whatever had happened, it seemed to be long past. The plaster walls were cracking and crumbling, revealing dark wooden slats beneath. Wallpaper was peeling at the seams, the pattern sun-blasted to ghosts of flowers and flourishes, spotted with mold and mildew. Fetid pools of rainwater stood in the worn bowls of rotting floorboards. The air was thick and deeply still, the silence broken only when the occasional car passed or the buzzing of the insects grew a few decibels louder, and Nancy and Ned kept a few feet between them by unspoken agreement. Whenever the floorboards creaked alarmingly under Nancy, Ned made sure to avoid that place. The last thing either of them needed was a splintery plunge into the house's crawlspace.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The furniture was gone. Nancy saw no patches or outlines indicating where anything had been recently removed. A wooden calendar in the kitchen, mounted on the side of a cabinet, had been set to November. Nancy noted the dates; they wouldn't tell her a specific year, but they would at least narrow it down. A cane chair, its seat missing, was propped against a window frame.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Once upon a time the house would have been beautiful. Nancy saw crown molding, a chair rail, hardwood floors that had been magnificent. The ruined roof was embellished with fish-scale detailing. It was almost like swimming through a shipwreck.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ned grunted as he stepped out of one room. "<em>Giant</em> nest in there," he said quietly. "Crawling with wasps."</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She shook her head. "I don't think there's anything here to find," she admitted softly. "Let's go."</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A cloud swept over the sun, and just that quickly, the room was enveloped in darkness. Nancy felt Ned's hand at her elbow and smiled as she twisted the head of her flashlight, expanding the beam.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Did I ever tell you about that house we found once, with no floor?"</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Yeah, but tell me again." Ned paused. "When we're in the car. Don't want to jinx anything."</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The clouds crowding overhead were bruise-black, and as they hiked around from the back door the first huge drops began to fall, peppering the pale asphalt of the two-lane road. Nancy reflexively brought a hand up to ineffectually keep the rain off her hair as she sprinted to her side of the car.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Once they were inside, Nancy started the engine; the air inside had grown close and still, and a welcome blast of air conditioning roared through the vents. She gazed at the house for a moment. Most of its silhouette was disguised by the riot of foliage growing untamed around it, and under the right circumstances, even the wreck would have been oddly beautiful.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Nancy looked over at Ned. "What if," she said slowly, "the numbers were transposed?"</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"So we just wandered onto a horror movie set for nothing?"</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The rain was a hush around them, not heavy enough to be a pounding roar against the car's roof. She smiled. "Well, not for <em>nothing</em>. There could have been clues in there."</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ned grinned. She felt his hand brush hers. "It's all right. There's no one else I'd rather explore a spooky abandoned house with."</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"You'd better not," she told him mock-sternly, and returned his grin. For a moment their gazes held, and she could sense that subtle shift in the air as his gaze dropped to her lips. They moved toward each other at the same time, and Ned cupped her cheek, stroking his thumb over her skin as their lips met.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They parted slowly, and she blinked a few times before giving him a small smile. "Before this gets any worse," she said, apologetically.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He nodded. "Lead on, Nan."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This ficlet was originally published elsewhere. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving feedback!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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